NASA confirms Mars was once able to support life

In the on-going news surrounding America's favorite space rover, NASA has confirmed that Mars was once suitable for life. These results come from the successful drilling of a rock by the Curiosity rover and subsequent analysis of the powdered rock.

John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist:

We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and supportive of life that, if this water had been around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it.

The rock contained sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon. All of these elements are key to life and show that Mars could have once supported life.

I think this is probably the only definitively habitable environment [outside of Earth] that we have described and recorded

Previous results from the Opportunity rover, which was located on a different portion of Mars, found that the previous aqueous environment was extremely acidic and not suitable for life. With these results, it becomes even more likely and possible that extra-terrestrial life exists somewhere in the universe.